Halloween HORROR Show: LOVECRAFT Trip And DEADMAN’S BAY
Greetings, fiends, this is your old pal “Horror Mike” T. Lyddon back from a great trip to Orlando, Florida. I attended the Spooky Empire Horror Show and hosted a Lovecraft in Florida panel.
The event took place Halloween weekend from October 29th to November 1st, 2026 at the Hyatt Regency. After the event I cruised north and found the historic Suwannee River and Deadman’s Bay on Florida’s gulf coast.
Watch the full video here.
Spooky Empire
The horror convention known as Spooky Empire covers everything in science fiction, horror, and fantasy. This includes movies, books, games, cosplay, celebrities, and panels.
I hosted a small yet responsive panel Friday night on the subject of H.P. Lovecraft in Florida, promoting my new documentary LOVECRAFT in FLORIDA. It’s new on blu-ray along with my previous 2022 doc HAUNTED THRILLS.
Haunted Thrills about pre-code horror and crime comics from the 1950s. Haunted Thrills also played at Spooky Empire in 2022 and won six awards for best short documentary during it’s 21 film festival run that year.
Spooky Empire is a very entertaining and large horror convention offering just about everything to the sci-fi, horror, and fantasy enthusiast.
Lovecraft in Florida
My new documentary Lovecraft in Florida should be of interest to many Floridians across the sunshine state as it tells the tale of H.P. Lovecraft’s travels to Florida from 1931 to 1935.
Beyond his home state of Rhode Island and two years New York, Lovecraft spent more time in Florida than any other state in his life. This is of enormous historical value and credit to the state. Lovecraft is considered to be one of the most important writers in the history of science fiction and horror.
Lovecraft’s Lasting Legacy
Even though Lovecraft passed away at age 47 in 1937, his popularity has grown immeasurably since his death. There are hundreds of directly adapted or inspired films and thousands of audio recordings.
There are role playing games and video games, toys, and countless Cthulhu mythos books written by popular and aspiring writers alike.
Lovecraft never wrote a tale of weird fiction based in Florida. He fell in love with fabled St. Augustine while visiting his friend Robert Barlow in DeLand. He actually considered moving to the ancient city a few years before his untimely death.
DEADMAN’S BAY and the SUWANNEE RIVER
On Halloween day I ventured northwest to a remote area of Florida, the stretch between Chiefland and Steinhatchee on the gulf coast. I stayed at a great motel called The Suwannee River Motel right off the main highway.
The fabled river is a short walk from the motel. Musician Stephen Foster was inspired to write the famous song “Way down upon the Suwannee River…”
On Sunday I drove a short distance to a very remote town on the gulf coast called Steinhatchee. With a population of less than 2000 people, Steinhatchee is home to Pirate lore and the infamous DEADMAN’S BAY.
I was thrilled to finally see Deadman’s bay and it was a brilliant way to cap off a short but sweet Halloween 2026 trip. I stopped off at ye old SEA HAG MARINA and bought a shirt commemorating my visit.
Lovecraft never made it to the Suwannee River or Deadman’s Bay. I am sure he would have loved this remote and mystical area of north Florida.
Lovecraft in Florida Blu-Ray
You can get my latest documentary LOVECRAFT in FLORIDA plus HAUNTED THRILLS on blu-ray. Visit my sites Horror Anthology Movies website or Ghostclinic.com. This doc will be of great interest to Lovecraft fans and Floridians in general.
